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Rolls-Royce design could send humans to Mars
Rolls-Royce design could send humans to Mars
Plus: Watch a UK drone firm perform a world-first microgravity experiment.
Feb 06, 2023
Its new out-of-this-world design, which it shared on Twitter this week, shows a micro-reactor for space, which is “designed to use an inherently safe and extremely robust fuel form.”
It’s designing the nuclear fission system as part of an agreement it penned with the U.K. Space Agency in 2021. Scientists and large organizations are increasingly looking at nuclear fission for space.
This is exciting because nuclear propulsion could reduce the roughly 8-9 months of travel it would take to get to Mars — using current technologies — to about 45 days or less.
But before you start packing your bags and booking your ticket to Mars, watch something a little closer to home (but arguably no less exciting). This video shows a U.K. drone firm performing a world-first microgravity experiment. Totally uplifting.
Good morning. I’m Alice, an Editor at IE.
This is The Blueprint. Let’s dive in.
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VIDEO OF THE DAY
The U.K. space industry is really taking off.
MUST READ
Rolls-Royce’s new micro-reactor for space is “designed to use an inherently safe and extremely robust fuel form.”
It’s designing the nuclear fission system as part of an agreement it penned with the U.K. Space Agency in 2021.
The news image from Rolls-Royce, which it shared on Twitter, shows that Rolls-Royce is experimenting with nuclear propulsion technologies for space.
Scientists and large organizations are increasingly looking at nuclear fission for space. Last month, for example, NASA and DARPA announced plans to build a functioning nuclear thermal rocket by 2027.
This is particularly exciting because nuclear propulsion could reduce the roughly 8-9 months of travel it would take to get to Mars — using current technologies — to about 45 days or less.
→ This would vastly reduce the amount of time astronauts are exposed to radiation and the amount of time during which a potentially catastrophic issue could occur. Essentially, nuclear propulsion would make spaceflight vastly safer for astronauts.
READ MORE
INNOVATION
IBM's Watson supercomputer is working wonders in an area where OpenAI's ChatGPT does not have much to offer — the stock market.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is using the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to balance its portfolio and has done pretty well for itself this year. At a time, when the capabilities of ChatGPT, OpenAI's conversational chatbot are all over the media, it is difficult to find what the AI simply cannot do. However, the ingenuity of humans shone through here.
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SCIENCE
A new study suggests that Neanderthals may have lived in larger groups than previously thought and hunted enormous elephants that were up to three times larger than modern elephants.
Found near Halle (Central Germany), 125,000 year-old-skeletal remains of elephants were first discovered in the 1980s. The bones of around 70 elephants were from the Pleistocene era.
READ MORE
CULTURE
A 4,300-year-old mummy has been discovered at the bottom of a 15-meter hole next to the Step Pyramid. And it might be the oldest mummy ever found.
The newly-uncovered group of fifth and sixth dynasty tombs was found near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, close to Cairo. The body of a guy named Hekashepes was also preserved there, in a mortar-sealed limestone sarcophagus.
READ MORE
MAIL & MUSINGS
Rolls-Royce's new micro-reactor design could send humans to Mars.
Would you be interested in visiting Mars?
YESTERDAY'S RESULTS
On Saturday, we asked if you think using A.I. in court is a sound idea, and 50 percent of you said sure, why not accept the extra help?
50%
Why not receive help?
24%
It’s a complicated topic
17%
Negative
9%
I’m not sure
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Strive for perfection in everything. Take the best that exists and make it better. If it doesn't exist, create it. Accept nothing nearly right or good enough.”
Henry Royce, co-founder of Rolls-Royce.
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Prepared by Alice Cooke
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